Dads are the BEST!

Jacob has had a really hard time separating himself from us at times.

He cries when we leave him with a babysitter...the minute he hears me call to arrange the babysitter he tells us, "I don't want a babysitter." "I want you to stay with me."

He has cried going into nursery (that is getting better).

He cries and tells me he doesn't want to go to preschool. Last Thursday he told me "I want to quit preschool." Yet when he goes he has a good time and is happy when I pick him up.

If he cried at only one of these events I would think it was that specific event and worry about it. But since he fusses over all of them and doesn't give us a reason why he doesn't like them (other than not being with us) I don't worry about.

After last Thursday with him crying running from me, and wanting to "quit" preschool, I called Jason at work about it. Trying to get him to go 2 times a week when he is like that is hard! I had told him there were no friends to come over to play with because they were all at preschool.

That night Jason talked to him about it when he went to bed. At bedtime we say prayers, read our scriptures and then Jason will usually stay in the room for a few minutes to talk to Jacob about his day, etc. As part of this Jason began to talk to him about how he was a big boy and big boys don't cry every time their mom leaves them. That sometimes moms need to leave, but that they always come back.

Jacob seemed to understand this, coming from Jason and they talked about how he wasn't going to cry on Saturday when the babysitter came and on Tuesday he was not going to cry when mom took him to preschool. Instead he would say, "See you when you get back!"

Wha-la! Saturday he did not cry. Today he began to say he didn't want to go and I asked him if he remembered what he and dad had talked about. He said, "Yes" and didn't put up any more fuss. Instead as we walked to preschool and got close he told me, "I'm going to say, See you when you get back!" And he did.

Jacob wants to be just like Jason (and I'm glad). He asked him the other night if they were brothers. Jason tried to explain that he was the Dad and Jacob was his boy. Jacob asked what brothers were. Jason said they are 2 boys who have the same parents. Jacob turned over in bed and said, "We're brothers Dad." Then he went to sleep.

Dads are wonderful!!!

I Married a Mountain Goat

Last week we went down to Zion's for a few days. We stayed at the Zion Ponderosa Ranch which is just on the east side of the Park.

We played in the pool(Jacob's thumbs up sign is done with his index finger. He hasn't figured out how to get the thumb up yet.)

and the playground.

We went into the park to hike on Thursday...we did three different hikes. One was to the Emerald Pools (just the 1st one) and another on the River Walk. Jacob did pretty well, but was tired by the end of the day.

On Friday morning Jacob drove the mini ATV
and...

Jason climbed the rock wall.
As we left for home, we decided to go back into the park and back to the River Walk to let Jacob splash around.
It must have been 90 degrees while we were there so the weather was perfect.

Now for the part about the mountain goat. When I was hiking I had my hiking boots and a walking stick to assist me. Jason was wearing his Teva sandals, no walking stick and hiked around with Jacob on his back most of the time! I'm trying to keep my balance and he is flying Jacob around, jumping from rock to rock like it is nothing!
We are so evenly matched in this area aren't we? ;)

Cast Off; Preschool Started; Potty Training Going

Tuesday, September 6th, was a big day for Jacob. In the morning we went to the Dr. to get his cast off. This round wheel does not spin, it vibrates fast enough that cuts through the cast. Then they take scissors, cut the mesh underneath and, viola!, it was off and we were saying good-bye.


His arm was a little "dirty"
and he had a somewhat limited range of motion, but that soon took care of itself and he uses it as if it was never broken.

That afternoon Jacob started preschool. 3 boys from his nursery class are there with him and he enjoys it. He has a little bit of a hard time seeing Mom leave, but once he is there he is fine. With his friend Andrew on the first day.


This weekend we began potty training. I should say that Jason has done most of it. I have tried 2 other times, with zero success, but Jason has made it work.Yea! I did it!! I wish he could stay home with me the rest of the week--Jacob goes, but does not always want to go. Here are some of his potty treats, a book and the Shake Car he earns when he can keep his pants dry, and go to the potty without too much reminding., Maybe he'll have it by the end of the week???

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend was really fun. On Friday night we started by going to Antelope Island to the Stampede Round Up...as you may remember we went to Antelope Island on the Friday before Memorial Day to camp. It seemed fitting that since we began the summer on Antelope Island that we finish the summer there (sans the biting gnats!).

We had a picnic dinner in the back of Jason's car before going in. They had hot air balloons up in the air and one that you could climb into. Jacob wanted to climb in until he saw them "firing" it up to keep it up. So we just stood in front of it.

They had a "Beach Boys" band playing and 3 or 4 bounce houses. Jacob loved those and we spent a lot of time in that area. He must have gone on them 50 times!







The evening ended with fireworks.





Sunday we went down to my parent's house for dinner and to sleep over. Today we got up and Jason and I went with Jason's brother, Josh, and his wife Irina, into Provo Canyon to do some zip lines.

Groupon sent a deal for a company called Max Zip, which had opened up this summer. We got to the canyon at 9 a.m. and a van picked us up and drove us a little ways up in a private area called Bear's Canyon. That is where we began the zip line.

They gave us our harness, hat, and glove and off we went. The first line I went down I stopped just a little bit short, the second line was better, but because it was longer I still stopped short. By the third line I had it down, but then we were done. They are adding 2-3 more lines in the next couple of weeks, which I would have loved to do. It was a fun experience and if it wasn't so expensive I'd do it again!












This afternoon we had a BBQ with my parents and niece Elizabeth and finished off the evening with a rousing game of "Bean Bag Toss." It was a fun weekend!

Summer is Winding Down

I cannot believe it is the end of August. Even with a broken arm I feel we have squeezed all the swimming in possible. (I've spent more time in my swim suit this summer than in the past 20 years!)

A few weeks ago we went with Jason's work to Lagoon. If you remember last year Jacob looked like this on the boat ride (even though he said he wanted to ride it). This year he was much happier! We had lots of fun at Lagoon.



Swimming at the Scera pool in Orem with our cousins


Swimming at the Lindon pool with our friend Connor


The zoo was hot, but fun
Splash pad in Alpine with Gr. and Gr. and cousins
And of course Jacob's famous picture taking! Me, Grandpa and us as a lovely looking couple!

Finally He Has His Cast

Jacob broke his arm on July 20th. The following week, on Thursday the 28th, we went in to get his cast. They took x-rays again and found the bones were not straightening. We had 2 options. The Dr. could straighten the bones there in the office, but that would hurt, or we could come in the next morning, they would put him under conscious sedation, and straighten them. We opted for the second choice.

Friday morning we arrived at the hospital at 6:30 a.m.At 7:30 they took him into the operating room, and 20 minutes later the Dr. came back in and showed us the x-rays with the straightened bones. Jacob was back in the room at 8:30 a.m., had some juice, ate a Popsicle and we checked out at 9:00 a.m.

Since they had to set the bones he was in a splint again for another week. This last Tuesday (Aug. 9) we went in and they put the cast on. While we waited for the Dr. Jacob rode this around and wanted to climb on this(is he trying to break his other arm?) Here are the supplies for the cast. Here they are wrapping his arm in mesh.(His arm is a little dirty after being splinted for 3 weeks.) The Dr. holding his arm until the cast was set(he probably thought I was nuts trying to take pictures!)It is water proof! YEA!! We're headed to the splash park today!